


From Where He Hails

by daisyisawriter91



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst and Feels, Backstory, Canon Compliant, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Tea Parties, This is why we don't pry into backstories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28741683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisyisawriter91/pseuds/daisyisawriter91
Summary: Seldom little is known about Gaius, and Lissa wants to get into it. But is she prepared for what she'll find when she begins to peel back Gaius's layers?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	From Where He Hails

Seldom little was known about Gaius. Every piece of information he gave up felt false at worse, at best a tiny bit of a much larger truth.

He was a thief, that much was certain. He had first joined the Shepherds due to a theft gone wrong, and it set the precedent of how he was perceived.  
He’d been incarcerated multiple times, it was an easy thing to guess. He loved sweets, and was terrifyingly skilled with a blade, in a method none of the Shepherds had seen in their combined years.

But beyond that, he was a mystery. A walking question mark. And Lissa simply couldn’t stand that.  
He was a part of their army, and their friend. How could he be trusted to protect them on the battlefield if they knew nothing about him?

Lissa had the perfect plan. She would invite Gaius for a friendly cup of tea, the sweetest blend she could find, and butter him up to needle information out of him.  
Gaius had accepted her invitation, falling right into her trap. The promise of confections at the get-together seemed to entice him far too much for him to refuse.

It took her a half an hour, but finally, everything was set up to perfection. Confections, tea, all were awaiting Gaius, who soon arrived.  
Eyeing Lissa with nothing but distrust, Gaius sat across the table from her. She did her best to put on a sweet smile.

“Heya, Princess.” He greeted, curtly. He knew something was up.  
“Hello, Gaius! Oh, please, help yourself!” Lissa gestured to the pastries.

Gaius’s suspicion only grew by the second. He leaned over the table, glaring daggers into Lissa’s skull.  
“Much as I’d like to banter, today is not the day to test my patience. What’s your angle?”

_Play it cool, Lissa. You still have power._

“Why not today?” She propped her elbows on the table and perched her chin on her clasped hands.  
“Classic deflection, not falling for it. What’s your angle?”  
“I don’t have one.”  
“I respect the lie, honest, but I have better things to do today. If you plan to lie, I’m gonna head off.” Gaius moved to stand but Lissa reached out.

“Wait, wait, wait!” She screeched. Gaius’s eyes grew wide as he lowered himself back down. “Just hear me out.”  
“You have my full attention. But not for long.”

Lissa took a quick breath to try and center herself before barreling on. “We’re fighting a war together. But none of us know anything about you. How can we trust you if we don’t know anything about you?”

Gaius’s posture relaxed a bit. His expression grew into one of bewilderment; like he’d been expecting more.  
“That’s it? You wanna get to know me? I thought you were trying to scam me or something.”

Gaius finally looked at the spread before him, eyes locking onto the plate of tea cakes Maribelle helped her make.

“Alright, here’s the deal. You give me that entire plate and I’ll answer anything you ask, completely honest. As long as you don’t tell anybody, and this stays between us. We got a deal?”

Gaius extended his hand across the table. After considering a moment, Lissa picked up the tray and placed it in his grip.

“Deal.”

Gaius took the offered tray and stuffed an entire cake in his mouth, taking exaggerated bites. Lissa waited for him to completely swallow it before asking her first question.

“We’ll start simple. Where are you from?”  
“The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.” Gaius answered, as though he hadn’t just said the strangest words imaginable.  
“The...what?”

The smile on Gaius’s face was wistful, softness written on every feature. Clearly, he hadn’t left on bad terms.   
“Ah, Princess, you’ve never heard of the place. Why would you know it? Faerghus.”  
“What’s Faerghus?” Lissa tested the word on her tongue, finding the shape of it unfamiliar.

Gaius studied the cake in his hand, not meeting Lissa’s eyes.

“It’s a kingdom from another world. Fódlan. Where I’m from.”  
“Fódlan?” Lissa repeated.  
“That’s right.”

Lissa paused for a moment.   
Another world. She supposed there _had_ been weirder things...she had to keep going with her questioning, otherwise she’d get nowhere.

“Do you have any family?” She tried again.

His jaw visibly clenched. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned away from her, closing off, visibly.  
“I did. Once. I doubt they’re even still alive. And if they are, they definitely don’t want to see me.”

The answer threw off the momentum of her questions. She could feel her heart slowing down.

“Why would you say that?”  
Gaius smiled, ruefully. 

“I had a wife. I had three kids. Two sons and a daughter. All four of them, they were the loves of my life, I would have given anything for them, even my life. I didn’t get the chance.  
Bandits broke in one night, but these were...different. I knew something was off about them, but to this day, I can’t figure out how. I’ve thought about every possibility and I’ve come up with nothing.  
They killed my wife right in front of me. I had just enough time to get the kids out before…” He trailed off. 

“Before?” Lissa prodded.

Gaius closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Even from where she was sitting, Lissa could see his hands trembling.  
“I came here. More like, I was forced into coming here. I don’t know what happened to my kids, I just know that they’re scared and alone and it’s my fault. Worst part is, I don’t know how to get back home.”

He covered his face with a gloved hand, hair spilling out between his fingers. Lissa was certain she could hear her own heart shattering.

The idea formed in her head and was out of her mouth before she could stop it.

“So today…is today the-”  
“Anniversary? Yeah. A year to the day.”

Gaius pulled off his left glove and rested his hand on the table, allowing Lissa a full view of the gleaming silver wedding band on his ring finger. She could see foreign script etched into the metal, but could only imagine it was some sort of declaration of love from his late wife.

“I’m...I’m so sorry.” Lissa stammered.  
“Yeah, so am I.”

He looked away, out over the horizon, seemingly unable to meet Lissa’s eyes any longer. He raised his hand, twisting around his ring with his thumb.

Lissa chewed at her lip, debating whether or not it was her right to say anything else. She’d already forced his hand into sharing so much…

It seemed her decision was made for her. He put back on his glove, rapping his knuckles on the table after they were covered once more.

“Well, this has been frankly traumatic. So happy to see you again, Princess. Let’s not talk for a couple days, yeah? Thanks for the food.”

Gaius stood up, still not casting his glance anywhere close to her. He left the pastries on the table, not as many of them taken as she’d thought.  
He turned away, running a hand over his face, and began to leave.

“Wait, Gaius!” She called out, desperately.  
He stopped, but didn’t acknowledge her plea.  
“It isn’t your fault. You didn’t ask to be taken away from your family, and you didn’t want your wife to die. You didn’t cause that.”

It felt as though the earth stopped spinning as she waited for his reply.  
He only gave a humorless chuckle in response, a slight shake to his head to accompany it. He glanced over his shoulder, allowing Lissa view of the tears running silently down his face.

“I know you think that makes it better, Princess. But it doesn’t. Because that just means that shit-for-brains goddess wanted my wife to die, wanted me to suffer, and wanted my kids to grow up without us there to watch over them. So thanks for the try, but we’re done here.”

With that, he walked away, leaving Lissa with a brain too startled to process thoughts. All she could say for certain was, judging by the heavy stone in her stomach, that she had messed up.

Perhaps Gaius should have kept his secrets.

Without another word, Lissa made quick work of cleaning up the area, hoping that she wouldn’t leave to find Gaius had resigned from his post for her actions.

And maybe, just maybe, she could ask Miriel if she knew a way for Gaius to get home.


End file.
